Inside the court of the King of Pop

Michael Jackson's arraignment on child abuse charges has sent his lawyers and advisers into a scramble as they try to rescue the beleaguered star. John Hiscock, in Los Angeles, investigates the singer's loyal servants

12:01AM GMT 18 Jan 2004

It was one of the most publicised "secret" conferences ever held. Twenty-seven of Michael Jackson's closest advisers convened in a suite at the Beverly Hills Hotel on Monday for lunch to discuss strategy for his coming trial. But the leading character in the drama was missing.

The embattled 45-year-old Jackson was at his nearby newly-rented home (cost: $70,000 a month), meeting secretly with Frank Dileo, the manager who had shepherded him through two hit albums, two world tours and whom he had abruptly fired 15 years ago.

Jackson has never given a reason for getting rid of Mr Dileo, who had managed him for nearly six years; and Mr Dileo himself has professed to have been angered and disillusioned by his dismissal.

Now, however, all appears to have been forgiven. Monday's meeting was one of several that the two men have had in the past two weeks, fuelling speculation that Mr Dileo is back in favour and is set to take his place once again in the court of the self-styled King of Pop.

It is a typical series of moves by Jackson, who has long believed in ruling by fear and intimidation. He has hired and fired his way through hundreds of business advisers.

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It may come as a surprise to those who only see him as a somewhat pathetic figure with a remodelled nose and a high, quavering speaking voice, but Michael Jackson is master of creating uncertainty and discomfort among his entourage.

Those of us who have had any dealings with him over the past two decades have filled Rolodexes with names and telephone numbers of people who at one time or another have been members of Jackson's inner circle. It is not uncommon to contact someone believed to be close to him to be told: "I don't have anything to do with him anymore."

The 27 lawyers, accountants and advisers who gathered for Monday's strategy conference have Jackson's ear. Such is the singer's mercurial temperament, however, that several could be out, and Mr Dileo and others could be in, before the end of the week.

"Michael is paranoid and thinks that if he turns every member of the team against each other he will have more control and will have a better team," said one former adviser who is hoping for reinstatement.

Even Jackson's family have in the past been banished from his circle and then reinstated. Although his brothers have publicly spoken out in his support and were among the hundreds who travelled in a "caravan of love" of buses, limousines and other cars to Santa Maria on Friday for his arraignment, their seemingly united front is roiled by resentment and jealousy.

Brothers Jermaine, Marlon and Jackie reportedly harboured a grudge against Michael for several years because he refused to help them by joining them for reunion performances of the Jackson Five.

Jackson, who is facing seven counts of "performing lewd or lascivious acts upon a child under 14" and two counts of "administering an intoxicating agent", is currently free on $3 million (£1.6 million) bail.

His previous brush with the law a decade ago, when he reportedly averted an appearance in court by means of a $20 million payment to his young accuser, Jordy Chandler, cost him dearly.

At that time he hired Howard Weitzman, one of the most successful criminal lawyers in California, along with the top Hollywood lawyer Bertram Fields, and Anthony "The Pelican" Pellicano, a private detective well-used by the stars, currently awaiting sentence on charges of possessing hand grenades and explosives.

Now that Jackson's financial empire has been eroded - he is reportedly £150 million in debt, having suffered appalling sales of his current album - he is facing another enormous bill: his legal team alone, which is dealing not only with the current child molestation charges but with several civil suits pending against the singer, costs him thousands of pounds a week.

His leading counsel, Mark Geragos, the Los Angeles criminal defence lawyer, is believed to be racking up billable time conservatively estimated at $640 an hour. Mr Geragos was at the singer's side as he arrived, 21 minutes late, at the Santa Maria courthouse on Friday.

Then there are the music lawyers, the business lawyers, the accountants and a somewhat motley crew of friends and hangers-on Jackson has accumulated over the years.

It is difficult to get an official comment on the current situation as last month he fired his publicist and loyal supporter, Stuart Backerman, who was the latest in a long line of public relations men entrusted with the thankless task of enhancing the Jackson image.

Previous spokesmen have included Lee Solters, who also worked for Frank Sinatra and Barbra Streisand, and Howard Rubenstein, the noted New York public relations executive who charged him £6,000 a month for two years and whom Jackson later professed not to remember.

The slew of high-priced managers who have come and gone over the years include Sandy Gallin, who for six years was involved with all phases of his business, the billionaire music mogul David Geffen, and Dieter Wiesner, the German entrepreneur. Now, however, the man making most of Jackson's business decisions is Charles Koppelman, a veteran music publisher who joined the Jackson team a year ago.

He is one of the three confidants who, at the moment, are closest to Jackson. The others are John Branca, one of the music industry's most powerful lawyers, and Al Malnik, a Florida property magnate who is in the controversial business of marketing high-interest loans. Mr Malnik is thanked by Jackson on his latest Greatest Hits album.

Mr Branca was an obscure 29-year-old tax lawyer when he was first assigned to work on the Michael Jackson account in 1979. Over the next decade, he assumed a much larger role in Jackson's affairs, ushering him through his meteoric rise to fame in the 1980s.

In the process, Mr Branca reaped millions of dollars in fees - not to mention, as thank-you presents from Jackson, two Rolls-Royces. He didn't, however, remain in favour. Jackson and his then-advisers fired Mr Branca in 1990, but he rejoined the team when the star was battling child molestation charges three years later.

Mr Malnik, 70, has reportedly helped stabilise Jackson's finances, despite authorities having long alleged that he was an associate of the Mob figures Meyer Lansky and Vincent Alo. Mr Malnik has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.

He is said to be the source, along with Mr Koppelman, of a multi-million dollar loan to the singer. Why anyone should support Jackson is probably attributable to the song-catalogues he owns - including that of the Beatles - and which still generate a huge income for him.

Joining the three at the head of the table at Monday's meeting was Leonard Muhammad, a high-ranking official of the Nation of Islam - a Chicago-based Afro-American Muslim separatist movement - and the son-in-law of Louis Farrakhan, the organisation's leader.

Members of the group have been acting as Jackson's bodyguards but Mr Muhammad and Jackson's advisers claim that it has no role in directing Jackson's business affairs.

"Michael is in complete charge," insists Mr Branca. And to help prove it, on Thursday Jackson added another heavyweight lawyer to his legal team. He approved the hiring of Benjamin Brafman, the New York lawyer who successfully defended the rapper Sean Puffy Combs on charges of gun possession and bribery.

Despite such moves, some associates are disputing the degree to which the superstar really is in control. The New York Times last week quoted an anonymous "senior Jackson employee" as saying: "The Nation of Islam and Louis Farrakhan's son-in-law have taken over completely and are in full and total charge." On Monday, several Nation of Islam members wandered the corridor outside the suite.

One person who was there but has no professional expertise is Frank Tyson, a young man now in his twenties who was 13 years old when he met Jackson. Since then Mr Tyson has travelled the world with the pop star and is rarely far from his side.

Perhaps because Jackson himself was not present, the gathering was free of any of the eccentrics he often associates with. They have included the starstruck Saudi Arabian Prince Alwaleed bin Talal - a major shareholder in Disneyland Paris - and Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, the author of such books as Kosher Sex, who helped set up Jackson's appearance at Oxford University in 2001.

Jackson's penchant for unusual companions was spelled out in a 2002 lawsuit filed against him by his former financial adviser, Myung-Ho Lee, who claimed that Jackson has a weakness for "charlatans and hangers-on". The circus-like atmosphere that surrounded Friday's arraignment hearing was an indication of what the Santa Maria authorities must expect when the trial begins.

Security is being tightened still further as hundreds of reporters from around the world vie for the 60 seats in the courtroom, raising questions of who of Jackson's team of advisers, lawyers and bodyguards will be allowed into the hearing every day.

As one sheriff's deputy put it: "If we allow them all in, there won't be room for anybody else."